


We're family

by TittySprinkles



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cleaning, Depression, Earth C, Existential Angst, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Cuddling, Post Game, Post canon, snacks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-09 23:51:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20518508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TittySprinkles/pseuds/TittySprinkles
Summary: John and Rose have lots of thoughts and feelings about sburb and how it changed the lives of everyone they know. Sometimes those feelings can be a lot.When life becomes too much, they'll always be there for each other. They'll always try to cheer each other up when sad, and help each other when they need it. That's what family does.





	We're family

You haven’t seen Rose in a while. Because of this, you’re looking forward to today. Kanaya went on an important work trip yesterday, and she asked you to check on Rose today and keep her company if she wanted it. The invitation was enough to motivate you to emerge from your man-cave of a house. 

You’re not sure how to prepare or what to expect, so you pick up some sparkling waters and potato chips on the way. You get barbeque flavor, since its her favorite. You also get plain, because it’s your favorite. 

When you get to her house and knock on the door, there’s no answer. There is a sticky note on the door that says, “Doors Open,” in Kanaya’s handwriting. Well, you’re glad you got here before someone else found this. 

You open the door. It feels weird to just walk into someone else’s house without being let in, even if it’s Rose. You walk in anyway, setting the snacks and drinks on the kitchen counter. The house is silent as you call Rose’s name. No answer. You walk up the stairs, and call once more. You become a little concerned when you’re met with silence again. 

You knock on the door to her bedroom, and hear a groan and some shuffling from inside. “Rose?” You ask. You think she makes a ‘Hmm?’ sound, but you can’t be sure. 

“Hey Rose, it’s me, John. I’m coming in.” The first thing you notice is how dark the room is. The curtains block out all of the afternoon sunlight. The second thing you notice is Rose laying in bed, looking confused. When she sees you, her expression becomes equal parts exhausted and mortified. 

“John! What- oh my god, I completely forgot you were coming today,” she says, covering her face with her hands. “Ugh, I’m so sorry about the mess, fuck-” that’s when you notice that there is, indeed, a mess. 

Both of the bedside tables are covered in dirty dishes and paper towels, the floor is littered with clothes and books, and the bed is cluttered with various digital devices and wires. Rose has never been a very neat person, but this is just kind of sad. It reminds you of your house during your depressive episodes. 

“Hey, no, it’s ok. Kanaya sent me to check on you, not to be hosted by you. Don’t worry about it.” You walk over to the side of the bed that has Rose and not her stuff on it, and sit on the edge. “How are you doing?” You ask, even though you know the answer already. 

Rose collapses back into the pillows and pouts. She looks so small among the huge pillows and blankets that seem to swallow her up. “Not too good, to be honest.” She looks at your chest instead of your face. You push her messy hair away from her face, because it feels like the right thing to do. She sighs.

“Would you like something to drink? I brought sparkling water, and some chips.” She looks away, thinking. “I got your favorite flavor.”

She looks at your eyes finally, her face so open that it frightens you a little. “Barbeque?”

“Hell yeah. I’ll bring the stuff up, be right back. Stay here,” you say, standing up and patting her shoulder. 

“Okay,” she says quietly. As soon as you shut the door, you bolt downstairs. Something about the way she is right now makes you not want to leave her alone. You bring your purchases up to the room and set them on the bedside table with the least stuff on it. There still not quite enough room, so you pick up the plates and stack them on the other table. 

“Thanks- oh, no, it’s okay, I can do that, sorry,” she protests, starting to sit up. You wave your hand in a vague ‘lay back down’ gesture. 

“No, don’t worry about it. Here, you take this,” you hand her the bag of chips. “And I’ll clean up. Ok?”

“Are you sure?” She asks, looking unsure but opening the bag of chips anyway. 

“Of course, it’s the least I can do for a friend that’s not feeling well.” You smile, hoping it reassures her. 

“Thanks John,” she says, wiggling into a half sitting up position and eating her chips. It’s unfairly endearing. 

You start with the dishes. You pick up the paper towels on the tables and floor, and set them on top of the stack of plates. You then go downstairs to throw the paper towels away and load the dishes into the dishwasher. While you’re at it, you load up the dishes that are in the sink and wipe down the countertops with a sponge. Then you wash the sink itself. 

It’s much easier to clean someone else’s house than your own. The work is the same, but the context is different. It seems less tedious and less boring if you’re doing it for someone else. It’s almost fun, even. You wipe down the stove. 

When you return to Rose’s room, she’s sipping on one of the cans of sparkling water. Her face looks just as tired as before, but a little brighter and less sad. It makes your heart swell slightly for reasons you can’t explain. You take a potato chip. 

The next thing you decide to tackle is the laundry. You ask her where the laundry hamper is and she points to a corner of the room. It’s unsurprisingly empty. You go around the room and collect the stray clothes into the basket. 

You glance at Rose and you can tell she’s struggling not to intervene, her tiredness probably being the thing keeping her from taking over.   
Once you finish collecting her clothes, you take them downstairs to put in the laundry. It takes you a minute to find the laundry room, and figure out where things are once you get there, but you manage to get it together in a timely fashion. 

When you go back up to her room and start organizing her books, Rose is working on her second sparkling water. You’re glad you bought the six pack. 

“Hey, remember when we first started playing the game and I made a royal mess of your house?” She says. There’s humor in her voice, but her face is slightly tense. It’s hard to talk about the game, but it’s harder to not talk about it. It took up such a huge space in all of your lives, and when you really think about it, shaped them entirely. 

You chuckle. “Yeah, I remember when you used my bathtub as a wrecking ball.”

“What about the cake in the toilet?” She says, finally smiling. 

“Oh my god, yeah, that was hilarious.” You stow the books in the bookshelf. She’d probably always wanted one just like this. Huge and vintage looking, packed full of books. 

“Come here,” she announces, patting the bed next to her. You move her things onto the bedside table and lay next to her. She hands you the other bag of chips and you open it. 

“Does it feel like we won?” Rose says, after a pause. 

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, at least I don’t feel like we did. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not disregarding the monumental achievements we accomplished. Obviously a lot was created, and a lot of things happened, but for some reason I just-” she huffs. “Nevermind, now that I say it out loud, it feels silly.”

“No, it’s not silly. Tell me how you feel,” You put a hand on her shoulder. 

“I just feel like after everything we did, and everything we went through, we still didn’t win. I don’t feel like a winner. I feel like a lost kid with no answers and a lot of questions that I’m not even sure really matter, just like I did before the game. And maybe it’s because it was such a long period of time, or because I spent so much time doing nothing, or maybe because I didn’t do anything important at all-” John cuts in when Rose starts getting choked up. 

“No, Rose, don’t say that. We couldn’t have done this without you. I couldn’t have done this without you. Maybe you didn’t get to do everything you wanted, but you did what you had to do, and you did everything you could do.” You say. 

“You get what I’m saying though, right?” She asks. You think about what she said for a moment. If you’re honest with yourself, you kind of agree a little bit. There was never a point where you felt like everything was over, and you could just go back to your normal life. By the time you won, your lives were so different that all you could do was just keep moving on. 

“Yeah, I think I do. But it goes without saying that we did win, and we got the prize, and fulfilled our destinies, whatever that really means.”

“Was it worth it?” You really have no idea how to respond to this question. You could spend hours contemplating a reality where none of you played the game. Instead, you set the bags of chips aside and hug Rose to your chest. 

“I don’t know,” you start, taking a breath in an attempt to settle the wobble that found its way into your voice. “But, what happened happened, and I guess it’s what was supposed to happen. That aside, I’m just glad that we can all be together now.” You lightly squeeze her for emphasis. 

One side of Rose’s mouth quirks up in a half smile. “Yeah,” she says. “You have a point.” 

You spend some time laying there, holding each other like you do it all the time. You wonder for a second if this somehow violates the rules of being married, or something. You hope Kanaya wouldn’t get mad about you snuggling her wife while she’s out of town. That would be awkward. 

“Thank you for coming here and helping me, John.”

“Of course, Rose. We’re family.”

“Yeah.” She wipes away a tear with her finger. “I guess we are.”


End file.
